Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Why are you not Blogging?

How Google is changing the question from Why Blog? to Why Aren’t You Blogging?

Changing the Question Why Blog
Changes in technology continue unabated. Recently Google announced a release of their new Hummingbird algorithm that will forever change the question for businesses from “Why blog” to “Why aren’t you blogging?”
For years companies have looked at SEO as some type of mystical behind the scenes technical work that was going to deliver “Top Rank On Google”.  In fact, if you search online for that phrase you get 177,000,000 results. With that many results, how come every business isn’t “ranked number one” in search?  Because the simple truth is technical SEO is not enough. On top of this with each new algorithm release, Google makes the technical tricks less important, and increases the importance of your website providing real value for your customers and prospective customers.
A key highlight of the Hummingbird announcement focused on how the new algorithm allows Google to more quickly parse full questions. This means that instead of providing search results based on a few keywords, they will be able to provide results based on the searchers intent in their full question.
Think about the difference of traditional short-tail vs. long-tail keywords and multiply by 10.  For those not familiar with terms short-tail or long-tail here’s a quick definition.
  • A short-tail keyword is a phrase of three words or less (ie. Schwinn bicycle)
  • A long-tail keyword is a phrase of more than three words. (ie. Schwinn bicyle with a banana seat)

So why blog you ask?

Studies have shown that companies that blog effectively generate more 5X traffic to their website and most importantly they generate 67% more leads for their business over those companies that don’t blog.
The best company blogs are those that provide helpful information for their customers and prospective customers. They focus on answering questions that their customers are online researching. See a pattern with the Hummingbird update?
What are some other reasons on why blog for your business? Well start with your buyer and why they’re reading blogs online. A few of the top reasons include:
  • 23% are reading blogs to inspire a purchase
  • 21% to decide on a product or service
  • 19% to refine choices

So final question: Tell me again why you aren’t blogging for your business?



*Article by Shade Wilson
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